


See What's Behind

by sm18



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angst, Casual Ryder, Experienced OC, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Original Character, Possible Romance, Ryder is Stressed, Sarcasm is a Requirement, Tempest Crew doesn't realize it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-26 01:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10776585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sm18/pseuds/sm18
Summary: The Andromeda Initiative was not just a civilian expedition to explore a new galaxy. It also acted as the perfect contingency plan for the Reaper War. Now a former member of the Normandy crew just has to survive Heleus long enough to put plans into action. Being part of the Pathfinder team makes that difficult, especially when she has to deal with the walking disaster-waiting-to-happen that is Scott Ryder."Well, shit.""What? Did you think this would be easy?"





	See What's Behind

**Author's Note:**

> So, throughout the game, Ryder deals with a lot of shit. And there are rarely any moments where we see the effect of that kind of stress. This story will sort of be exploring that, but it will mainly be focused on my OC. As you can tell from the summary, she's used to work with Shepard, and joined the Initiative because of the Reaper threat. Considering the Initiative launched after the events of ME2, she experienced the Collector threat and all that. I had a story planned out for the first two games, but Shepard's such an important character, that anything my OC did wasn't very significant. To me, it made more sense to just skip to Andromeda, where she can make a difference. Everything that needs to be known about her will be revealed throughout the story. Eventually. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the story!

Cold… Why was it so cold? I hated the cold, so why?... Noveria? Did we go back?

It’s dark, too. I can’t see. My eyes are open but I can’t see. Huffing breaths… Is that me? My throat stings and my lungs feel heavy. What’s going on? Where am I? Is that yelling? It’s muffled. Where is it coming from? I can’t move. Why do I feel so numb? What’s happening? Who’s yelling? Where am I? When…

_“I don’t want to go.”_

_“I know, but you need to. We need a contingency plan. Everyone else here will fight, but you need to ensure the survival of every species. In case we don’t win…”_

_“I need to make sure that they won’t win either. That’s a big job for one person.”_

_“Then convince the Initiative of the threat we face. Then you won’t be alone.”_

The Initiative? The Andromeda Initiative… Six hundred years… Cryostasis… Heleus.

I gasped for breath as my mind finally caught up to the present. I had joined the Andromeda Initiative and the last thing that I remember happening was being put into cryostasis for the six-hundred-year journey to the Heleus Cluster. I was awake, which meant we must have arrived. So then, why did I still feel half frozen and why wasn’t the pod opening? I shouldn’t have been conscious until the pod was open and I was completely defrosted. A malfunction? Probably. It would explain the frantic voices outside my pod.

My left fist slammed against the pod cover. It didn’t matter what was going on. It was getting hard to breath and if I stayed in that pod any longer, I would suffer further damage. I already felt the burning of frostbite where my prosthetic right arm linked to my torso. That was a complication I had previously been warned of. If I spent much longer in that pod, the cold would begin to mess with the rest of my augmentations. Skin, bone, and muscle weaves and a multitude of other synthetic parts. Damn Council never wanted to give me enough time to heal after a mission. If something was damaged, it was replaced.

Not the point! My left fist connected with the pod again. I needed to get out. That was my priority. As my left fist continued to pound away at the pod, I began applying as much pressure as I could with my legs. My right arm wasn’t responding, so I decided to put it through a hard reset. If I could get it working, I would probably be able to put enough strength into it to knock the pod door off, or at least loosen it enough that a few more hits would get it off.

My strikes repeated several times, and then my right arm finally began to respond. I put as much strength and tension behind it as I could. Then my fist smashed into the pod. A dent was left behind, and not a small one. A few more hits. I just needed a few more to get out of that damned pod. I had no problem with small spaces; I’d crawled through enough ventilation shafts. However, completely enclosed was not ideal for me. What I wouldn’t have given for biotics at that moment.

Suddenly, my fist wasn’t stopped by the metal and bright light flooded in. God dammit! My eyes immediately shut as pain pricked at them from the light. The eyes of a complete albino were sensitive to bright light. Did these people not get the memo? I was supposed to be removed from cryo in a dimmer setting! A groan escaped me as a headache began its unwanted settlement.

Unfamiliar hands grabbed my arm and began to haul me up. Too large to be female or Asari. I was told to expect an asari doctor. T’Perro, I think. Instinct kicked in and instead of allowing him to pull, I jerked my arm towards myself. He fell forward and I grabbed the front of his shirt with my free hand before extracting my arm from his hold. In less than five seconds, we were face to face with only a two-inch separation and my fist ready to strike. I must have still been disorientated, because the only thing that ran through my mind at that moment was, _he has pretty, blue eyes._

“Whoa! Friendly!” He declared with his hands up and open. My grip loosened automatically at that. Instinct. Only allies confidently declared that as he had.

“Captain Felix, please calm down!” My eyes snapped to the source of the request. It was the Asari doctor I had been introduced to before cryo. The one that I was supposed to expect. At her appearance, I decided that I had just experienced a string of bad luck. No need to be so defensive. It was alright.

I released my grip on the man and lowered my fist. Before I could utter an apology, or question, another voice rang out across the room. “Scott! Let’s go!” It had been a blond woman, and my brief search for her had allowed me to determine the room I was in to be the medical wing of the cryo bay. I finally relaxed. I was where I was supposed to be.

The man who had tried to help immediately straightened and called an affirmation to the woman—Cora Harper, if I remembered correctly. He left my side to follow her and that was when I realized that he was probably Scott Ryder, Alec’s son. I had only met the Pathfinder, Alec, and not any of the other people on the team. I was late to the Initiative due to indecisiveness on my part, but luckily, they had wanted me enough to make arrangements.

“Captain Felix, let’s get you taken care of, alright?” T’Perro brought my attention back to her. She looked concerned, and I instantly felt bad. The previous situation had probably been bad enough, but my reaction certainly hadn’t helped. Doctors were stressed enough as it was and I didn’t want to add onto that.

I nodded as I started to finally push myself out of the pod. My limbs shook with the effort. The adrenaline had already worn off. “I might need some help.”

She smiled gently, “Of course.” Two other doctors were called over to haul me out of the pod and to one of the nearby beds. T’Perro was a rush of activity around me and at some point, she, or one of the others—I was still trying to get my bearings—had set a cup of coffee into my hands. My nose scrunched up just the slightest at the dark liquid. Coffee was okay, but it certainly wasn’t a drink I would choose. I was more of a tea person. An amused hum caught my attention and a turn of my head showed that T’Perro had obviously noticed my reaction. In defiance, I took a long sip from the cup. At least I felt warmer.

T’Perro must have decided that my health wasn’t in as much danger as before, or that I wasn’t as threatening as I had appeared. Either way, she made conversation with me, mostly about the situation that had caused me to be half frozen when I awoke. The pathfinder team was to be removed from cryo and near the end of that—only I and one other, Sara Ryder—a power surge had knocked out the artificial gravity. It was only a few moments before it was reset, but during the whole ordeal, mine and Sara Ryder’s pods had been damaged. Ryder had to be put in an induced coma after they managed to remove her from the pod. On the other hand, the malfunction in my pod had jammed the door and woken me up while I was still defrosting. Luckily, treating that only took a few injections, some salves, thirty minutes under a heating lamp and a cup of coffee. During the thirty minutes of warming up, T’Perro had managed to check all my synthetic parts for damage. Surprisingly enough, there was no damage that the heating couldn’t fix. That was certainly a win in my book.

“Everything checks out. All things considered, you’re very lucky to have sustained so little damage. You might want to thank Scott next time you see him. His biotics helped open the pod.” T’Perro was scanning the data pad she held as she spoke.

My eyes widened just the slightest at the new information and I absentmindedly nodded in agreement. “I think I owe him both a ‘thank you’ and an apology.” Great way to make a first impression on a teammate. At least it wasn’t the worst one I had made.

“I’d prefer to keep you here for a while longer, but Alec knows you’re awake. He wants you on the ground team, so after this next shot, head to the armory and then for the shuttles.” She informed as she set down the data pad and prepared another shot. It was probably another stim since I still felt a bit sluggish, but I couldn’t be sure without seeing the label.

I eyed the needle as it approached my arm. “Someday, I’m going to develop a fear of needles.”

She snorted in amusement and then promptly stuck me. “I’ve seen your medical records. If you haven’t developed a fear of them yet, I highly doubt you ever will.” The needle was removed and the heat from the injection site confirmed my suspicions of it being another stim. The mitochondria were running overtime.

A bend of my left arm and I felt the heat begin to spread evenly through the limb and into my torso. I returned my attention to T’Perro. “Am I good?”

“You are. Now get going before I change my mind.” She replied, still a bit miffed that her patient was being sent straight out after just being fixed. It didn’t bother me much. It was the kind of life I had lived for years. No rest, just constantly moving.

With another nod and a sincere thank you, I rushed out of the medical wing and towards the armory. On the way, I read over the details of the mission—no expedition, I was an explorer now, not an agent. The Hyperion had come across some kind of energy field, which had caused the power surge, and the pathfinder team was being deployed to Habitat-7 with armaments just in case. Not much to go on, but I decided that it was enough to warrant bringing my emergency gear. The room was empty, but the fact that there were a couple lockers left open told me that I was behind the rest of the team. Luckily, with so many years of experience, I had switched out the standard white and blue clothing given by the initiative for my black underarmor in less than thirty seconds. Armor piece after armor piece was removed from my locker and strapped to my person. Thighs, knees, boots, forearms, gloves. With confusion, I pulled out a chest piece that most certainly did not belong to me. I preferred the light armoring of my custom coat—which was modeled after STG armor, only shaped for a human female—combined with my undersuit. It was much more flexible and suited to my fighting style, even if it did provide less than the approved level of protection. I shoved the piece back into my locker. It would only get in my way.

Completely armored to my approval, I dug out my weapons from the case at the bottom of my locker. I was briefly thankful that I didn’t have to abide by Initiative standards for weapons and armor. A quick unlocking of the bio-recognition seal and I was swiftly snapping a prototype Scorpion pistol to the mag-lock on my right thigh. The pistol was superior to other Scorpions in several categories, most especially in explosive power, and was equipped with a scope. The Scorpion was my favorite pistol, and I was a bit excited to see how well the prototype would do in the field. Next was my secondary pistol, a N7 Eagle. Scratches and burns littered the surface of the gun and wouldn’t fade no matter how many times it had been cleaned and polished. It was old but still reliable. A smile appeared on my face as my thumb swept across the surface of the metal. That gun held so many memories of the person who had given it to me. I think he would have been happy to know that I put his gift to good use. The gun found its home on the magnetic strip on my left thigh. A highly-customized Mnemonic Visor was pulled out and set in place. As the devise booted up and the HUD flashed before my eyes, I finally realized just how exposed I had felt up to that point. The visor was a comfort for me; a reminder of what I had to do and who I was doing it for. A small sigh was released as I refocused on the task at hand. Several knives of various sizes were tucked into hiding spots across my armor before I reached into the case to grab another gun. I paused. Sniper rifle or shotgun? I briefly went over what I remembered of the combat profiles of the rest of the pathfinder team and then decided to grab the Black Widow sniper rifle. The rifle snapped onto the magnetic strip on my back and I closed the case once again before returning it to the bottom of my locker. Perhaps my Ruzad shotgun would get some use another time.

With all my gear ready, I grabbed a spare helmet just in case before I jogged towards the shuttle bay with the hope that I wasn’t running too late. Once there, I headed straight towards the center of activity. It seemed I had arrived just in time.

“…So let’s go make history.” Alec Ryder had just finished whatever speech he had given the rest of the team. I was a bit disappointed to have missed it. I didn’t know an N7 that couldn’t give a good rallying speech.

“Not without me.” I called, while sauntering up to the group. Heads turned towards me and I felt slightly out of place. Alec and I were the only two not in the white and blue initiative armor. While I sported a red and white combo with splashed of grey metal and black undersuit, our pathfinder was in the standard red and black N7 armor.

“You’re late.” Alec accused, but not unkindly; just a bit annoyed.

I gave a shrug. “There were complications.”

“Hurry up before I put you on B team.” He groused before turning into the shuttle he had been standing on the edge of.

“Harsh.” I noted with a tinge of amusement as I finally reached the group. I turned to them and nodded my head respectfully. “Pleasure to meet you all. I’m Alexus Felix. I was a last-minute addition to the pathfinder team.”

There was a stunned silence as many of them openly stared at me. It didn’t last long before one of them, a male with dark skin and wild black hair spoke up. “Wait, are you saying that you’re _that_ Alexus Felix? As in, Captain Felix? As in—“

I raised a hand to cut him off. A sigh escaped me as I replied with annoyance at my own reputation. “Yes, that’s me. Or was me. I no longer work for the council and therefore, no longer hold that rank or any other, for that matter.”

“I always thought you’d be taller.” Scott stated with a casual smile.

Instantly my eyes narrowed on him. My height was not something that I needed a reminder of. I didn’t care if I owed him an apology or thank you. But I couldn’t retaliate openly or that would seem childish. Instead, I had a better idea. “After this, why don’t we have a sparring match? It would be good for you to learn how to fight smaller opponents.”

A nervous look swept over the male’s face, “Uhh…” Liam Kosta, if memory served, had a large grin plastered on his face as he knew Scott had stepped on a landmine. It didn’t look as though he had any intention of bailing his teammate out. Smart man.

Satisfied with my work, I turned away and towards the shuttle that Alec had already boarded. Besides Kosta, and Ryder, the others had already dispersed and began loading into their designated shuttles. Once inside, Alec gestured for me to take the co-pilot seat. I had no idea how to fly a shuttle, or anything really, but my tech skills could be deployed in unique ways that could keep the shuttle steady should things go south.

“So, Scott helps you out of cryo, and you threaten him with a sparring match.” Alec remarked while doing the preflight checks.

“He called me short,” I grumbled as I linked my omni-tool into the shuttle’s systems.

“You are short.” He stated flatly.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean he has to point it out.” I argued. Had I been a few years younger, my voice would have been much louder at that point. It was incredible how much I was able to cool my temper between the past and that point.

“You’re the shortest and youngest of the team, but you’re also one of the most experienced. Nobody here will treat you like a kid. They respect you, especially Scott.” Alec informed. I guess it was obvious that my problem had more to do with being dismissed as a child—which had happened plenty of times—than with my height. I was twenty-one, obviously, an adult, but the sting of dismissal for so many previous years still lingered.

My shoulders sagged as I sighed. “They don’t respect me, they respect what I’ve done.”

“What _you_ did. It’s the same thing.”

I shook my head. He didn’t understand. It was different. Someone else could have done it and it would have been the same. Respect for the action, not the person. “Nevermind. This is useless. We should be focusing on the mission—Expedition. I meant expedition.”

“Hard to change tunes, isn’t it?” He commented, amused by my hurried correction.

“Ugh, I was an agent for so many years. Bet it’s harder for you.” I remarked.

“It can be.” He answered before he focused on getting the shuttle off the ground and out of the bay. With that, I focused on the shuttle’s systems. Soon we had cleared the bay and were descending towards Habitat-7

The shuttle began to shake and I focused on the readings I was getting.

“Gravity anomalies detected.” SAM announced. The words automatically drew my eyes to possible sources.

My fingers flew across the holographic keys of my omni-tool as I replied, “Stabilizing.” The reading moved towards normal. “Clear.”

“We’re going into cruising speed.” Alec declared as the shuttle began its acceleration.

Silence passed—apparently I was with the less talkative people—as the shuttle continued its course. In less than five seconds, I switched to check on Shuttle 2 before returning to our readouts. “Shuttle 2 is steady and following.”

“Good. Habitat-7 is just ahead. Starting deceleration.”

I checked the shielding and integrity readings. Everything was in the green, as it should have been.  “We’re ready for atmospheric entry.”

“Initiating. Hang on.” Alec replied. A fiery orange lit up the windows as the shuttle rocked from entry. This was always the most nerve racking part for me. I could already feel the adrenaline starting to release.

Red flashed on my omni-tool. “Flight guidance down.” I informed, an edge of concern in my tone.

Alec didn’t respond and a few seconds later, we were through. Back to green. “Guidance back up.” We should have been clear, but as soon as I had gotten my first look of the planet, I felt my stomach drop.

“I have a bad feeling about this place.” I muttered.

“We’re staying on course. Clear mind, Felix.” Alec reminded.

“Always, sir.” And my attention was back on the status of the shuttle. Harper contacted Shuttle 2 about the planet, but I was more focused on my own task.

“Oxygen levels are below minimum human requirements.” SAM announced.

Of course. I couldn’t stop a snarky remark at that. “Hope everyone brought a helmet or two. Experience says not all helmets last these conditions.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Harper commented.

“I would, but I have terrible luck.” I answered. When I briefly glanced out the window to see large rocks floating and tacked on, “Plus, giant floating rocks are usually signs that something is about to go wrong, or already is.”

Several other conversations had been going on over the short banter with Harper, but eventually they all converged on the subject of a large structure. Advanced engineering. Something like that doesn’t build itself, which meant that we would likely have a first contact situation on our hands. A thrill shot through me. First contact. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I certainly hoped it wouldn’t turn out like the Relay 314 Incident or first contact with the Yahg.

“What if they’re not friendly?” Kosta questioned over the open comm line.

“We stick to contact protocol: No use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear.” Alec answered calmly before adding on, “Felix has the most extensive training for first contact, so follow her lead if it comes to that.”

“I feel as though I’ve been thrown under the bus.” I commented, before adding on, so as not to cause anyone to be nervous. “Can’t deny the facts, though.”

It was barely a moment later that the storm began tearing apart Shuttle 2. There was chaos over the comm, but before I anyone could react with more than an exclamation, the storm began attacking our shuttle as well.

“Shit!” I hissed as my fingers flew over my omni-tool and began to try stabilizing the essentials for keeping the shuttle in one piece. I overrode the safety on the shielding to set it to maximize it. It would quickly drain power from the shuttle, but there was such a thing as emergency landings. “Shielding maxed!”

“Resetting course.” We’d need a closer LZ due to the power drain.

The storm was eating away at the shielding faster than it would regenerate. I estimated that the shielding would go down before we were able to exit the storm. If that was the case, we’d go down just like Shuttle 2. I bit my lip as my mind raced with both the task of keeping the shuttle as stable as possible and how to prevent it from being torn apart. Finally, my mind stopped on my array of tools. I just needed to find a few seconds between the chaos. It came sooner than I expected, but I was grateful. For a short time, I had the shuttle stabilized and I capitalized on that by removing three of my shield capacitors from a pouch on my belt and tossing them to Harper. Luckily, she had quick reflexes and caught them.

“Stick those to the back, ceiling and floor of the shuttle and activate them!” I ordered as I removed my final capacitor and stuck it to the front of the shuttle. When all the capacitors were activated, the shielding of the shuttle was significantly boosted. With that, we’d have enough to get through the storm without overclocking the shields and having to make a crash landing.

I didn’t relax when we finally escaped the storm. It wasn’t until we landed that I breathed a sigh of relief. Still no time to relax, but at least we’d hit solid ground. The shuttled rocked from the rough landing. The other three, Carlyle, Hayes and Harper, exited the shuttle after securing their helmets. Alec and I remained to record the damage before joining the others. I had to remove my visor and replace it with the spare helmet. It felt weird. Usually I stuck with my visor and used a breather mask, but I decided not to risk it that time. My head felt heavy from the unfamiliar weight.

“Is everyone alright? Any injuries?” Carlyle questioned.

“I think the shuttle is the only thing that took damage.” Hayes replied.

“Could have been worse.” Harper commented before turning towards me. “Quick thinking with those shield capacitors, but did you save any for yourself?”

I shook my head, “No, the shuttle needed them more. If we hadn’t used all of them, we could have very well ended up like Shuttle 2.” A silence was about to settle at the thought of Shuttle 2, but I spoke again. “Has anyone tried comms? We should try to get in contact with the rest of the team.”

“Agreed. They’re resourceful, they could still be alive,” Alec replied, then turned towards the rest of the team. “Get to work on comms and the shuttle. Try to contact the rest of the team. I’ll scout ahead. I want to get readings on that tower.” He opened his omni-tool and sent his half of the damage report to the team.

I followed his lead and transferred the report before turning towards him. “Permission to secure the area while the others work on the comms and shuttle?” I was good with tech, but I was far from an engineer. I’d rather not work on those things when I could very well make it worse.

He nodded, “Granted. Now let’s get moving.” With that, everyone dispersed towards their assigned task. Since Alec went in the direction of the superstructure, I moved towards the rocky formations. Those were the only two points of entry to our location due to the mountainous structure and cliff edge covering the other two sides.

With swift movements, I was navigating over the wall of rock and into the trench below. I should have been watching my steps more carefully, because I nearly landed in some oddly colored, steamy liquid. Carefully, I crouched down, mindful of the tail of my coat as I tucked it under my knees, and brought up my omni-tool up to scan the substance. A list of chemical components appeared after the scan. There were several unknowns listed and I was tempted to take a sample for further analysis later, but the fact that the stuff was clearly toxic had me do otherwise. Perhaps if we came back later.

I informed the others of the toxicity of the liquid before moving on. It was going well, with no dangerous encounters so far. I had the time to observe the surroundings and take several scans of the plant-life. Besides the obvious problems, the planet was actually, incredibly beautiful. Well, it was in a “dangerous: do not touch” sort of way. Green plants, and rocky mountains that all looked so untamed; I could see how this might have once been our golden world, but obviously something went wrong. Six hundred years was enough time for an environment to change drastically, but not naturally.

Before I could ponder the question any further, footsteps caught my attention. Too different to be human. That new species we suspected? It wouldn’t surprise me if they sent people to investigate the crash. With that in mind, I quickly started up my omni-tool’s translation program so that it could immediately start decrypting the new language. My heart began to race. I was about to make first contact with a new species. Of all the impossible things I’d done over the years, this was something I never thought I’d actually experience. With a calming breath, I straightened up and moved towards the footsteps with hands up and open. Non-threatening. Don’t want to make a bad first impression.

As I rounded the next rocky corner, I finally spotted them. Grey skin, and heavy bone plating, but they were humanoid in the sense that they stood on two legs and had two arms, which were currently holding interestingly shaped weapons. I think. I wasn’t sure what else those devices could be. For all I knew, they could have been toasters, but that didn’t make a lot of sense.

The three had their guns pointed at me the moment I was in view. Externally, I remained calm. Internally, I felt every alarm in my head going off, telling me to seek cover. It didn’t matter how much training I’d had for first contact situations, I had enough experiences with having guns pointed at me that the situation was becoming very difficult for me.

With the calmest, most non-threatening voice I could muster, I spoke. “I mean you no harm. My team and I are explorers. Our shuttles were damaged by the storm. We don’t want to fight.” Guns remained pointed, but one of them replied. What was said was a mystery. My omni-tool needed more data for decryption, so I responded, with the hopes that they’d talk more. “I can’t understand you, but if you continue speaking, my omni-tool can begin translation of your language and we can talk.”

Instead of answering, one of them lowered their gun and reached for something else before he (I think) closed the distance between us and grabbed my arm roughly. It took every ounce of willpower to fight off my instinct to retaliate. In that moment, I finally noticed just how tiny I was compared to this new species. I had fought much larger enemies, but it was still somewhat intimidating to be towered over by a species you couldn’t even understand. Glancing down, I noticed that the alien had pulled out a very sharp looking blade. Immediately, I knew I did not want to be on the end of it.

While my focus had been on the deadly blade, the alien harshly yank on my arm. Without thought, I planted my left foot and resisted with the bottom half while my top half was pulled forward. I ended up exactly where I didn’t want to. While my focus had been on maintaining balance, they had brought the blade up, then straight down on my head. If it weren’t for the helmet, I’d have died at that moment. The blade smashed through the visor of my helmet and dug a burning cut into my face. That had been the one place I had avoided obtaining scars.

Instead of focusing on the increasing lack of oxygen, I unsheathed my tactical knife from its spot on my belt at the small of my back, and drove it straight into the underside of the alien’s chin. Shots were fired, and I switched the knife handle to my other hand. I made myself as small as possible in order to use my new meat-shield, before I grabbed my Scorpion pistol and fired two shots. Two seconds later, there were two satisfying explosions. I yanked my knife free and dove into cover behind a nearby rock. I wasn’t taking chances with them possibly surviving that.

Seconds ticked by before I decided that it was clear. I dropped my pistol then yanked off my helmet. I began to feel light-headed and disorientated as I dug through another pouch for my emergency breather mask. When I finally pulled it out, I shoved it against my face and made sure it was sealed against my skin before starting the oxygen release. Oxygen flooded my lungs as I sat there for several seconds to recover. That hadn’t gone as I had hoped.

After securing the straps of the mask around my head, I wiped off the sickly yellow-green blood of the alien from my knife with a spare cloth I always carried and sheathed it. The warm trickle down my face reminded me of the gash I sported. It ran over my right eye, so I decided not to risk medi-gel. That stuff was meant for sealing wounds, and using it so close to the eyes could cause more damage than it fixed. Instead, I removed my gloves and extracted several pads of gauze before ripping them out of the packaging and pressing them against the wound. I hissed as the pressure I applied stung. I avoided facial wounds for the sole fact that it was difficult to assess the damage on one’s own.

I decided not to linger any longer. Gloves were pulled back on, and my pistol was returned to its spot, before I grabbed the broken helmet as I stood. A thorough bioscan with my omni-tool then I was on the move. I need to get back to the others to warn them of the hostility of the new species. Luckily, I was only securing the area, so I wasn’t too far from the landing zone. Several times, I stumbled, still disorientated from the ordeal. The jump-jet help tremendously in getting back. I couldn’t help but think of all the times it would have helped to have one.

I had just rounded the corner when Harper appeared. The skirmish hadn’t happened to far away, so they had probably heard the explosions and sent Harper to check. She rushed forward to help me. “What happened?”

“First contact. They’re not friendly.” I explained as I allowed her to lead me towards the shuttle. Dr. Carlyle quickly took Harper’s place and guided me to sit before he began removing the gauze to examine the wound. I dropped the damaged helmet to the side. No use it hauling it around anymore.

“Cora, grab that case for me.” The doctor instructed and he pointed somewhere behind him. The final piece of gauze was removed when he asked, “What kind of weapon did this?”

“Some kind of sword-like blade. It burned when it made contact but other than that I didn’t really get the chance to examine it.” I answered.

“Burned? Let’s hope it wasn’t any kind of chemical that caused that.” He remarked.

“You weren’t kidding about helmets.” Harper noted, as she picked up my abandoned head gear, already finished with Dr. Carlyle’s demand.

“When I said that, I wasn’t expecting to be the one with the broken helmet. I tend to avoid facial wounds.” I answered.

Dr. Carlyle cut in, “Well, you managed to avoid damage to your eye, if that counts.”

“It does. Means I don’t have to get another prosthetic.” I quipped before inquiring, “Can you seal it up? That’s the only injury I sustained and I’d rather it not hold me back from the fight.” I certainly didn’t want to be an invalid for the rest of the mission. I had useful skills, and I damn well wanted to use them to ensure we made it out alive.

“I can, but are you sure you can handle getting back into the fight?” He asked.

I would have nodded, had he not been holding my head in place. “Yeah. I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Alright, but try not to get into the thick of it.” He warned and began extracting the necessary items from the container Harper had brought over.

“Don’t worry, I left my shotgun on the Hyperion.” I replied. I wasn’t about to make a promise that I probably wouldn’t be able to keep. The frown on the doctor’s face told me he was unhappy with my avoidance but wasn’t going to press the issue any further.

As he worked on my injury. Harper took up guard for the area and Hayes continued working on comms and the shuttle. It was time to play the waiting game. Soon the new species would discover the fate of their scouts and a battle would ensue. When Dr. Carlyle finished, I retrieved my visor from the cockpit of the shuttle and pulled out a second breather, which replaced the spot my own breather had in one of my utility pouches, from the spare equipment. With that out of the way, I began unloading and dragging ammo crates to strategic positions around the shuttle; didn’t need to be running to the shuttle for more ammo while under fire. Harper remained on guard while Dr. Carlyle began moving his medical equipment closer together, near the shuttle.

It wasn’t long after I finished that I found myself perched high up in a sniper’s nest on the side of the cliff reviewing the data from the bioscan. The spot was perfect for keeping watch. From there, I was able to alert the rest to the first inbound enemy shuttle. harper and Dr. Carlyle immediately moved to cover, but Hayes stayed where she was at the comms. Before I had the chance to order her into cover, she announced that the comms were up but not stable. As she went to cover, Harper tried to connect with the other half of the team.

I activated my cloaking tech and sighted the enemy shuttle. No pilot, so it was on auto, and it was alien tech, so I had no idea where to place a shot to stop it. I huffed, a firefight was inevitable. As soon as the doors opened, a bullet was sunk into the head of the first enemy I sighted. Only one other didn’t make it out of the shuttle alive courtesy of my modified Black Widow Sniper Rifle. That still left half a dozen enemies for us to deal with, but those weren’t bad odds. With the toxic liquid and groove acting as natural barriers between us and them, there was only a small chance that they’d be able to flank us. One enemy tried and quickly lost their head to a bullet.

At some point during the firefight, Scott Ryder and Kosta showed up and tore through the enemy line from behind. From my perch, I kept watch over them, and ensured that they were able to make it to our side. They managed to take down three of the five enemies left, and the two remaining were quickly shot down by the rest of the team. With the area clear of enemies, I deactivated my cloak and checked my ammo. One clip completely spent, and only two rounds left in the second. I’d spent a few bullets on cover fire for Ryder and Kosta, and considering the precision of sniper rifles, I didn’t carry a lot of spare ammo. With that in mind, I made my way down to grab a few more clips.

“Did these things try talking to you at all?” Ryder question with obvious frustration as he and Kosta headed towards the shuttle to resupply. I couldn’t exactly blame him. None of us were expecting this mission to get FUBAR so quickly. Might be best to talk with him later, I decided.

“Not even enough for the translator to decrypt the language before they attacked.” I answered as my feet hit level ground. Both Kosta and Ryder flinched slightly before turning to face me.

“Uh, when did you get here?” Kosta inquired, seeming genuinely confused.

I nearly raised an eyebrow before remembering the damage to my face and decided I didn’t want to reopen the wound. Instead, I jabbed a thumb towards my previous nest and replied, “I’ve been here.” I moved past them both to dig out a couple more clips before continuing, “By the way, you tend to neglect your left. You should fix that.”

Before I could once again move past them, and go back to my nest, Ryder held a hand out to stop me. “Hold up.” I glanced down at the hand in front of me, then turned my head to the side to see the man connected to it. Though the tint of his helmet made it difficult, I could see his eyes narrowed on the right side of my face, on the patched-up injury. “You okay? What happened there?”

I turned the rest of my body to fully face him and answered, “First contact. I tried talking with them, but they used force before smashing some kind of blade into my helmet. No damage to the eye, so I’m fine. I’m guessing they didn’t play nice with you guys either?”

“We tried being nice. They didn’t play along.” He confirmed. I nodded and gestured towards the ammo crates. He took the signal and joined Kosta in resupplying. While they did that, I returned to my perch with the help of the jump jet.

The enemy was quick to send in reinforcements, and I immediately called for everyone to get to cover over the comms. My cloak was reactivated, but I only managed to headshot one enemy in the shuttle before they dropped. One other didn’t make it to the ground alive. The shuttle was larger than the last, and we had at least ten enemies hit the ground alive. Or more, as I soon realized once I noticed a fast-moving waver. Cloaking. I lined up my shot and took out the enemy that had nearly flanked the team. It decloaked with the first shot and revealed itself to be a creature I hadn’t seen. It’s bone plating was similar in appearance to the enemy, and had powerful looking jaws lined with sharp teeth. I didn’t linger on the appearance of the beast long; just enough to figure out where the head was and then line up a killing shot.

From there, I focused on picking off the cloaking beasts, so that the rest could focus on the gun wielding enemies. It was automatic, systematic. Locate target, aim, shoot. I didn’t even have to think about it. Years of missions, stacked upon years of training made firing a gun second nature to me. _Don’t think, feel._

My cloak shimmered, which brought back my thoughts. It held longer than a lot of other cloaks, but it still had a timer. The badly aimed shots to my left announced that the enemy had spotted the failing of my cloak. Cover. I needed to get to cover, before my cloak gave out. I was too open. With that in mind, I made my way down the cliffside and towards the closest cover. Kicking up dust clouds was inevitable, but luckily, I was gone before they could redirect their aim. Three-quarters of the way down, my cloak gave way. Only a few shots hit my shields, and that, I quickly discovered, was because Kosta and Ryder were providing cover fire for me.

Feet on level ground, I swiftly dove into cover before holstering my rifle and taking out my Scorpion. “How many are left?” I queried.

“Four!” Harper shouted from somewhere to my right.

I nodded to myself, then switched my pistol’s scope camera in infrared and connected it with my visor. Without needing to risk my head to see where they were, I poked my pistol over the rocky cover and fired at the edges of the enemies cover. Four shots. The explosions would either draw them out of cover, injure them, or a little bit of both. Two seconds later, there was a succession of very satisfying explosions. The rest took the opportunity to fire while I cut the connection between my visor and scope camera. Then Kosta announced the arrival of another shuttle. At least it wasn’t as bad as Pinnacle Station.

My sniper made a reappearance as I aimed at the enemies in the shuttle. One lost their head before it hit the ground. I was able to take out another one before it could get to cover and a third as they tried to advance to a different cover.

“Sound off!” Harper ordered when the enemies had settled into cover. One by one we all answered over the firefight.

“I’m here!” Dr. Carlyle on the far right.

“Still alive!” Ryder just to my right.

“Here!” Kosta was somewhere further up.

“Present!” Hayes further in the back.

A small object bounced between Ryder and I. Even if it was alien, I knew exactly what it was. “Grenade!” I warned and tackled Ryder out of the way. I hit the shield booster and activated my tech armor. An arm wrapped around me and I felt the tell-tale buzz of biotics just before the grenade went off. When I didn’t feel any of the force of an explosion, I risked a look behind me and found that Ryder had thrown up a barrier just in time. It was impressive, to be able to put up a strong barrier so quickly. Most biotics needed a second longer of concentration. As I removed myself from Ryder I nodded and muttered, “Not bad.”

“Thanks. But try to be careful when tackling people. I think I’m going to bruise.” He remarked with a quirk to his lips as he rubbed at his shoulder.

I huffed good-naturedly at him before lightly pushing him back towards cover. “Sorry, next time I’ll consider the pros and cons of tackling someone when there’s a grenade.” Sarcasm was a game I played well. A laugh was a clear indication that he had no problems with it.

When we were both back in cover, I finally gave a proper response to the sound off, for both Ryder and myself “We’re good!”

Ryder moved up after the grenade incident, while I remained in place. It was a strategic positon to prevent the enemy from flanking our left. It soon became evident to the rest of the team just how many enemies we were face with.

“I can’t get a bead on those things!” Dr. Carlyle called.

“There’s too many of them!” Hayes added, an edge of concern laced her tone.

“Just keep firing! We can do this!” Harper encouraged. Not the most inspiring words.

“Hold the line! We’ve taken out plenty already! We can get the rest! We’ll take these assholes out and get back to the Hyperion!” I dictated. Not my most original, but if the ringing agreements of Ryder and Kosta were anything to go by, then it did the job.

A few moments later, Kosta remarked, “Man, these guys know how to fight!”

“Yeah? Well were better at it!” I answered. It was no time to be low on morale. If it dropped, that spelled bad news for us. I’d seen the result of low morale on a unit, and it was not pretty.

The last round from my Scorpion’s clip fire at an enemy prepared to lob another grenade. One explosion set off the other. Life signs for that enemy disappeared from my visor. My Scorpion was swiftly replaced with my Eagle and I fired at an enemy that was getting too close for comfort to our line of defense. The sound of battle had dwindled significantly and I switched my visor to infrared to check the numbers. Two… No, one. Kosta had just taken on to the far right. The last on was ducked behind a large rock. Before I could reload my Scorpion to draw the enemy out of cover, Ryder used his biotics to pull the enemy out. Instinctively, I shot the enemy with a concussive shot. Clear.

When the enemy hit the ground, Kosta marched up to it and began putting round after round into the corpse with his assault rifle. I paused on my way over as the memory of a battle-hardened Korgan shooting into the distance flashed through my mind. That was the kind of anger I was seeing again. Wounded, insulted, betrayed. At least it wasn’t directed towards the rest of us.

“Liam, enough!” Harper ordered, an edge of understanding in her tone as she and Ryder approached the man.

Kosta stopped at that and turned towards them, “Right. It’s just… these assholes killed Kirkland,” His voice was raised, and rage laced through his words. It was understandable to be mad at the enemy for killing a teammate. I’d felt the same myself on many occasions, but that rage could cloud the mind. These things happened, and he needed to control himself or he’d get hurt. He was fine up until that point, so it was obvious that he had reached his breaking point and needed to vent.

“I hear you, but this isn’t the time to lose our cool.” Ryder replied.

Kosta turned and shot a few more rounds into the corpse before facing Ryder again. “Now I feel better.”

As I joined the group Harper got to the question I was going to ask first. “What about the others?”

“Fisher’s wounded, but sitting tight. Greer’s with him. Though our shuttle’s in pieces.” Ryder reported.

Stumbled footsteps caught my attention. Wounded. I turned to the source as Hayes called out, “Guys.” She was being supported by Dr. Carlyle and they moved towards us.

“She’s been hit!” Dr. Carlyle informed as her legs gave out. He helped her sit but shortly after, a charge started filling the air and rocks began to float. We’d all realized by then that when the air was charged and rocks began to float, lightning was about to strike. With the amount of charge building, we could all tell it was going to be a big strike.

“Take cover! Take cover!” Ryder ordered as he began to move himself. I glanced towards Dr. Carlyle and Hayes. There was nothing within my capabilities that could guard against a lightning strike. A tug at my arm had me moving to cover as Kosta light guided me forward. From the corner of my eye, I saw Harper rush towards the doctor and Hayes.

She stood guard in front of them as she lifted a hand and brought up a biotic barrier. “Hang on!” The rest of us had gotten into cover by the time the lightning hit Harper’s barrier, which held surprisingly strong. When the lightning passed, she brought the barrier down and her biotics lingered on her arm for a moment before fading.

Ryder, Kosta and I left our cover to rejoin the group. With obvious surprise, Kosta commented, “I didn’t know you were a biotic.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” She snarked. It was easy to tell that she’d had to associate with more ignorant people before. It was disappointing how people viewed the skill.

“You’re a damn powerful one, too.” I added, hoping to show that she didn’t need to be defensive. “And I’ve met an Asari Justicar.” Through the visor on her helmet, I saw her eyebrows shoot up in disbelief.

“What’s a Justicar?” Kosta questioned.

I shook my head, “Ask me later. It’s hard to explain.”

Hayes cut in with the need to update everyone. “Before they attacked I…” She hissed in pain, “I managed to fix our comms.” It was clearly taking a lot of effort on her part to speak. The beginnings of shock? Possibly. I moved towards her and switched my visor to its medical setting before kneeling but also kept an ear on the conversation going on with Alec. Low blood pressure, rapid, weak pulse, shallow breathing.

“Shock.” I informed. The doctor likely already knew, but it was always better to get confirmation from a second source. More readings flowed across my visor. “Hypovolemia.”

“Grazed the liver.” Dr. Carlyle notified.

I nodded. That would do it. “Medigel to seal it. Do we have the items for a crystalloid IV?”

“In the only crate still in the shuttle.” He replied. “There’s a sterilizer in that crate, too.”

“I’ll get it ready. Stop the bleeding and prep for IV. If we have sugar tablets and you can find a way to give them to her do it. It helps with shock, especially after such physical exertion.” I stood up, ready to head for the shuttle.

“Where did you learn that?” He questioned. It wasn’t common knowledge about the sugar tablets. At least with humans, anyway.

“A turian, believe it or not. Different anatomy and amino acids, but a lot of the physiology is the same.” I then rushed towards the shuttle. The latches on the crate were swiftly released and I was soon digging through the contents for distilled water, packets, sterilized sodium chloride, and the sterilizer. Everything was already conveniently measured out in individual packets. It was just a matter of using the right amount to create the right solution. With the ease of repeated practice, I quickly had the require, .9% normal saline solution. I used the sterilizer on the contents one last time before I grabbed a packaged needle, an IV tube, and a collapsible stand then made my way back to Dr. Carlyle and Hayes.

As soon as the items were handed over, Dr. Carlyle began prepping the IV while I set up the stand. My visor instantly gave me the optimal height for the stand needed for the IV.

Dr. Carlyle handed me the IV bag to hang and Harper turned towards us, “Can you two manage alone?” Her words weren’t directed at me, they were directed at Hayes and Dr. Carlyle. Right. I still forgot that I was supposed to be a solider, not a doctor. Medic was not my assigned post, no matter my qualifications. I switched my visor back to combat view.

“I can keep her stable, now that we’ve got an IV set up.” The doctor informed, as he inserted the needle then covered it up with a taped down piece of gauze.

Harper nodded then turned towards Kosta and Ryder, “Let’s move.” And that obviously meant me too. “SAM, do you have the pathfinder’s postion?” I motioned for the two men to stock up while Harper questioned our resident AI.

“Marking the navpoint on your map.” The AI responded.

“Doesn’t look far. Let’s make this quick!” Harper ordered as she began to lead the way. “We have to get there before the storm hits. No detours.”

“What was my Dad scouting for?” Ryder inquired as we jogged to catch up to the woman

“He was trying to get readings on that tower.” Harper answered.

“Well, the navpoint puts him near it.” Kosta remarked with his omni-tool open.

“Exercise caution. The storm front is already gaining intensity.” SAM warned.

“Thanks, SAM.” I automatically responded.

“Nice to have you back, SAM. How about some good new next time?” Ryder quipped.

The trek down the cliffside would have been tricky if not for the jump jets. Drops, gaps and rocky outcrops were only the first obstacles on our way to the pathfinder. The journey wasn’t exactly quiet either. I must have been right in my earlier assessment that Shuttle 2 had the more talkative members.

“So, ever have to deal with something like this before, Captain?” Kosta inquired from further up with Ryder. Harper took point, and I took rear.

“I’ve explored a lot of uncharted planets before, but no. I can safely say that I’ve never done something like this. Usually my enemies don’t include the weather... Not counting Noveria, anyway, but that mission was five levels of fucked up.” Missions never seemed to repeat in my case. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Fixing the weather was certainly new. Another addition to my list of impossible accomplishments.

“Huh, what was Noveria like?” Kosta continued. I wasn’t sure if he was digging for a story or if he was truly curious.

“Cold.” That was the only way to define it.

“Really? That’s it?” Kosta seemed skeptical.

“Yep.” I paused as the memory of a certain flight lieutenant’s thoughts on the place came to mind. “A friend once very eloquently described it like this: He didn’t know which was worse, the cold or the corporations. One would freeze your balls off and the other would sell them out from under you.”

That got a laugh from both the men as Ryder tacked on. “Yeah, cold seems to be the perfect description there.”

Then we came across a long field of lightning rods. It made the area safer to traverse by redirecting the lightning, but we stayed close to the wall to avoid any risk of stray strikes. Half way through, there were dead bodies littering the ground.

“Lightning didn’t do this!” Harper announced. It was hard to tell in the first place. Lightning didn’t leave bullet holes.

“Neither did we. This is more than we took out.” Kosta informed. It was more than most people could take out. But then again, N7s aren’t most people.

“Incendiary rounds. My dad’s been busy.” Ryder sounded impressed. At least there was one person who could get to the point.

“He was an N7. They don’t mess around.” Harper agreed.

I nearly rolled my eye. More stating the obvious. “N7s are a hardy bunch if there ever was one. I’ve seen one tear through an entire facility filled with enemies with just two other teammates. On several occasions. This is probably more of an inconvenience for the pathfinder than anything else.”

“Right, you worked with Commander Shepard. You ever one of those teammates?” Kosta asked.

“He liked having me around to break enemy lines.” I explained.

“Someone was pretty clever with these rods.” Harper noted.

“Only way to survive here.” Ryder answered.

“Two, if you count shooting on sight.” Kosta remarked.

“We’re close. The navpoint shows my dad’s up there.” Ryder informed as we came to a double overhang. The jump jets allowed us to make it up to the top in one jump. And just as he had said, Alec was at the top, crouched and gazing at the facility surrounding the tower.

“Sir!” Harper called, as she rushed over to his side. The rest of us remained quiet.

“Stay low,” Alec commanded, calmly as we reached the halfway point to him. We all crouched down where we were, guns ready. When he moved up, we followed to the edge of the cliff to get a better view of facility and tower. Alec motioned for me to closer and I repositioned myself at his side as he pointed towards the facility. He wanted readings that my visor could provide. I nodded and set my visor for long distance scanning.

“Who are these guys?” Harper inquired.

“Visitors, just like us. I don’t think their native to the planet.” Alec answered.

“They’re not. We found an abandoned lab. Like they’ve been studying the place.” Ryder confirmed.

“Bioscans can attest to that. There were no similarities between common genomic sequences. They evolved somewhere else.” I added, as my visor continued to gathering data.

Alec looked over his shoulder at his son before refocusing on the facility. “Good work. You actually did some scouting.” He could have been a little less cold about it. I subtly nudged the older Ryder and gave him a sideways glance. He barely gave me a glimpse. We would have words after this mission.

“Wouldn’t be much of a recon specialist if I didn’t.” Ryder replied coldly. Even most Turians weren’t as bad as them! Something needed to be fixed.

Alec huffed a laugh, “Well, you’re off to a good start.”  Alright, maybe they weren’t as bad off as I had thought. Or maybe it was the nudging reminder I’d given Alec.

“Baptism by fire.” Ryder quipped. Okay, it really wasn’t that bad. One of them just had to give, but I had the feeling they were both incredibly stubborn.

Harper moved up, “Sir, you said you had an idea about the weather?” I still found it difficult to believe he wanted to fix the weather. That’s not normally something that can be changed on a whim.

“It’s the dark energy could the Hyperion hit. It’s affect the whole planet, interfering with that.” Alec explained as he pointed up at the tower.

“The tower is caught in a feedback loop. Together, they’re disrupting the entire climate with undirected energy.” SAM clarified. So, weather can be fixed.

“Which suggests, if we get in there and shut it down…” Alec trailed off.

“The lightning goes away.” Kosta finished.

“And the shuttle can get us out of here. In theory. We just need to get past them.” Alec tacked on.

“Luckily, I just found the easiest path to punch through to the tower.” I added after my visor’s algorithms had finished assessing the enemy numbers and locations and various paths to various spots. I opened my omni-tool, which was connected to my visor, and sent the data to Alec, with the route I’d picked out highlighted.

“We’re banking on science we don’t really understand. What if the theory’s wrong?” Ryder questioned. It was a good point to be brought up. But there really weren’t many options for our situation.

Alec activated his omni-tool as SAM impartially informed, “The alternative is an 85% chance of death from lightning strike, capture, or worse.” The older Ryder closed his omni-tool, probably having checked my data and SAM’s calculations.

“Can’t argue with those statistics.” I mumbled.

“Well, when you put it that way,” The younger Ryder conceded.

“No illusions about this. It’ll be a nasty fight the whole way.” Alec reported.

I felt a few glances at me and I countered, “I said that it was the easiest path, not that it would be easy.”

“Beats getting fried by lightning. But we risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse.” While the point Harper brought up was usually a good one, in this situation they’d already shown to be very aggressive, even towards surrendering parties.

“It’s them or us.” Alec argued simply.

“Oh, its them. Problem is, we’re out numbered.” Kosta agreed quickly.

“I’ve been working on that. We just need to change the math.” Alec replied as he once again opened up his omni-tool.

“I have a feeling I know exactly where this is going.” I remarked. Instead of watching Alec, I watched the facility. Where would be the best placement? For maximum damage, the lightning rods would work, but that also leaves risk of the team getting hit. Before my thoughts could go any further, explosions covered the bases of the rods. N7s and their bombs.

Alec jump-jetted down the cliff and towards the facility. Time to charge. I followed closely behind Alec, Scorpion pistol drawn and tactical knife clutched in the other hand. This was the kind of action that needed my shotgun. If I’d known we’d have to charge into a facility while outnumbered, I’d have grabbed my Ruzad.

Feet pounded the ground as we bulldozed through enemy lines. I stayed a few steps behind Alec and called out enemy positions as they appeared on my visor. Harper, Kosta and Ryder lagged behind. It didn’t surprise me. They’d probably never had to do something like this and were trying to take out enemies before moving up. It was better to keep moving and leave the enemy behind on these sorts of missions. Trying to take them all out would leave a team overwhelmed.

“Have to keep an eye on our flanks!” Kosta remarked.

“Not if we keep moving forward. Don’t let them catch us!” Alec ordered.

“If you try to fight them all, you’ll be overwhelmed! We’re heading towards a defensible position so keep up. We’ll have them bottlenecked on two sides once we get there.” I informed as two more rounds attached themselves to an enemy up ahead. My knife met the neck of another enemy that had come out of cover to shoot at Alec after he had run past.

“Felix!” The older Ryder warned. Up ahead the enemies were creating a line to barricade us from getting any further.

“I’ve got this!” I called. Tech armor, shield boost, and then I deployed my omni-shield and charged past Alec and straight into the line of four enemies. I may have been small, but with all the synthetic weaves and power boosts from my armor, I had no trouble bowling through them. My omni-shield hit one enemy, and as I pushed past, I drove my knife into the throat of the enemy to my left. Several shots from Alec, and the other two enemies down. As Alec blew by, I shoved the last enemy over the railing with my shield. Tech armor and shield boost were left on, but I deactivated my omni-shield and followed after Alec.

We jumped a gap in the bridging and made it to a door leading inside the facility. The rest of the team caught up by then. I switched out pistols as Alec glanced at the others, “Ready? Let’s get inside there.” Then we were charging in. Enemies were blasted and it was general chaos due to the small space, but Alec and I quickly moved up. I fought better in small spaces and my knife met the necks of more enemies than before. One enemy seemed to be quick on the uptake of melee. I had just sliced another enemy neck when a second one charged over and rammed the butt of its gun into my exposed ribs. I staggered, but grabbed its gun and used it to swing it towards the closest wall, where I promptly smashed its head between my foot and the metal.

Alec used his jump jet to move to the next level and I quickly followed after him. Whatever damage I had taken to my ribs, I was promptly able to ignore, thanks to my visor, which was linked to my armor and able to administer local painkillers based on algorithms I had programmed myself. As long as nothing was broken, it wasn’t anything to worry about in the field.

It wasn’t long afterwards, that we reached what my visor had marked as the likely control center. Alec ordered us to keep them off his back. There were only a few enemies that had managed to follow us, and with ease they were dispatched.

“We made it! In one piece!” Kosta noted with relief now that we were at the control center and the immediate area was secured.

“Not over yet. I need to get through that door over there!” Alec informed, as he gestured towards the door in front of himself while working on the console that more than likely connected to it.

“What now?” Ryder asked.

“I need to decipher the language.” Alec answered.

“There’s more coming up!” Harper warned.

“What’s the plan here? They’ll surround us in no time.” Kosta inquired.

“We to defend both sides or they’ll flank us!” Ryder called as he began moving towards cover on the right side.

I motioned towards the far side, “Harper, Kosta, cover that side. Ryder and I will cover the other.” I noticed Harper pause to give me a look before following Kosta to the other side. Someone didn’t like taking orders from me. Luckily, she saw that now wasn’t the time to argue.

“Watch it! Think I see movement!” Kosta told Harper as they bunkered behind cover on their side.

As Ryder and I found cover on our side, Harper spoke up. “We held them off at the shuttle, we can do it again!”

The enemies began showing up as Ryder replied, “Lot of people still counting on us!” His reminder of the people back on the Hyperion was much better motivation in my opinion. He’d be a good leader, but definitely not the kind his Dad was. That wasn’t a bad thing though.

“I’m just getting warmed up!” Kosta confidently declared.

It took a while, but Ryder and I soon developed a system of fighting together. He used biotics to keep the enemies from moving up, and I picked them off with my sniper rifle. When an enemy managed to get too close, he took them out with a few rounds from his assault rifle. Towards the end of the fight, we discovered the most efficient combos between us. It didn’t take long after that to wipe out the last of them with some powerful biotic explosions, courtesy of Ryder’s singularities and my concussive shots. The combo was made even more efficient with the bottlenecking of the enemies.

Alec managed to unlock the door, but it was jammed. Ryder and I joined him to help force open the door. As we grabbed the edges of the door to lift Alec remarked, “Put you’re back into it.”

“Don’t actually put your back into it. That’s a one-way street to back problems. Lift with your legs.” I grunted as I helped them. Even with so many weaves, a mechanical arm and two well-muscled men, it was still a strain to force open heavy doors like that.

When it got too high for me to reach, I planted my feet on the bottom part of the door to continue helping. During that, Ryder asked, “You really think we can shut this thing down?”

We switched to pushing down the bottom half as Alec answered, “I don’t know yet. SAM’s decoded part of the language.” We got it all the way down and straightened up. “Now we’ll see if I can have a conversation.”

“Nothing on this planet has listened so far. Just… Be careful.” Ryder began indignant but sobered at the end. Concern dripped from the last two words.

“Worried about your old man, huh?” Alec teased, “I won’t tell anyone.” He then walked forward, into the unknown tower. Only a few steps in, Alec turned towards his son, “Come on. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.”

I glanced at Ryder as he watched his dad. My hand clasped the younger man’s arm and he jolted just barely. “Follow him, the rest of us will stand guard.” When he nodded, I patted him on the arm and turned away, back towards the others. The stress was starting to get to the younger Ryder, that much was certain.

Once outside, I directed Harper and Kosta to retake their positon, while I took the other side. We just had to wait for them to do what needed to be down. We had our job, they had theirs. It was only moment later that the tower lit up and shot off a collection of glowing energy. Seconds later, the sky began to clear and both Ryders stepped out of the tower. From their body language, they were having a heart-to-heart. Good. I didn’t have family so I couldn’t understand how it felt to be distant with them, but I imagined it wasn’t nice. It felt good, just to see that sort of family bond.

Suddenly, there ground began to rumble. I grabbed onto a nearby crate, just in time to look up and watch in horror as some sort of cloud poured out of the tower and straight into the Ryders. They disappeared and I quickly switched to thermal view to find them. I was only able to catch sight of the younger Ryder before he flew off the platform due to the clouds force. My stomach dropped and dread crawled through my veins. That was a long drop. Their armor might have protected them from the fall, but that only counted if they didn’t land wrong.

I dashed to the edge of the platform, while turning my visor’s IR off. My visor assessed the quickest way down as my omni-tool tracked the location of the Ryders. It went much quicker once Alec opened a comm for an emergency extraction. I was soon using the jump jet to make my way down the cliff side. It was slower than I hoped, but it was better than getting injured and not making it there at all. At some point, I had switched my visor to medical view.

When Alec repeated his order, Harper responded, “They’re spinning up the shuttle! ETA is three, maybe four, minutes!”

“We don’t have that long.” Alec muttered over the comm.

“I’m inbound to your location! I’ve got medical supplies, just hang on!” It would take me, about two minutes to get to them. It was almost two minutes too long. By the time I reached them, both were passed out. Alec’s helmet was on Scott and Scott’s helmet was on the ground with a shattered visor. I skidded to a stop on my knees next the older Ryder. I dug out the second breather mask I had stuffed into one of my utility pouches and got it strapped in place before tilting his head back and releasing the oxygen. No chest movement, so I fished a collapsible rescue breathing attachment for the breather mask and began ventilations. Seconds later, two sets of footsteps rapidly approached. Kosta was in crisis response, so he should know how to do rescue breathing.

“Kosta, take over ventilations for me! I need to check on Scott!” I ordered, and less than a second later, I had switched out with him. As my visor scanned the younger Ryder, red flashed across the view. Cardiac arrest. Shit. And the standard Initiative armor didn’t have defibrillators built in. I started compressions. Over the comms, I called Dr. Carlyle. “If we have a defibrillator, get it ready! Scott’s in cardiac arrest! We may need an endotracheal for Alec! He’s not breathing!”

After that, it was general chaos of trying to keep the two men alive. For hours, I worked with Dr. T’Perro and Dr. Carlyle, on Scott. The only problem with Alec was getting him to breath, which the medical technicians could take care of. With Scott, it was one problem after another. Cardiac arrest. Seizure. SAM’s connection to him overloading after Alec had transferred the pathfinder status. Luckily, SAM jumped into our group and gave suggestions for treatment for the problems with the connection. We had to move Scott to SAM node and establish a hardwire connection with his implant. Surgery outside a medical setting was messy, but we managed and SAM fixed the problems. Scott stabilized and when we got the go-ahead from SAM, we undid the hardwire connection and patched him up.

When that was done, Dr. T’Perro had Dr. Carlyle and I go back to the medical bay for post-mission check-ups. The medical bay was still busy, especially since the other members of the pathfinder team were still getting treatment. As I sat on one of the beds, I glanced over at Alec, who had a breathing tube and ventilator on him and his leg braced in place. The bed next to him held his comatose daughter. I let out a weary sigh. “I think I just aged ten years from that debacle.”

“I can already see the white hair.” Dr. Carlyle commented, one bed over.

I chuckled, because I had nothing but white hair. Albinism. The laugh didn’t last long as I winced and held my ribs. “Ugh, don’t make me laugh. One of the aliens smashed their rifle into my ribs. I think it’s bruised.”

“Just a doctor for the emergency stuff?” He quipped.

I smirked and shook my head. “You wish. Simplified: my armor administers fast-acting, local anesthetics whenever I get hurt on the field. The actual explanation involves a lot of tech talk, but the point is, I’m still getting the feeling back in my ribs.” My eyes drifted back to the two Ryders.

“Stick around long enough and you’ll get used to it.” He remarked, already knowing my thoughts.

“So, they’re always like this? Giving people white hair before their time?” I returned my attention to the older doctor.

“For as long as I’ve known them.” He answered.

“And how long is that?”

“Long enough to remember Scott and Sara fracturing bones after falling out a tree.” He remarked.

“Got it. They’re certified human disasters.” I’ve dealt with that type before. Wouldn’t make it any easier.

He chuckled, “That’s one way to put it.” His eye drifted over towards the Ryders. “I have to thank you. We would have lost Alec without you. Possibly even Scott. I can’t imagine what that would have been like for Sara; if she woke up to find both them both dead.”

I sighed and slouched to rest my arms on my legs. “It’s not easy. To wake up and find out someone you cared for is dead. There’s always a lingering regret. I’d imagine it would be worse if it was family.”

There was a lull in the conversation before Dr. Carlyle spoke. “Would it be too much to ask a favor?”

I shook my head, “Not at all. What can I do?”

“Look after Scott. Now that he’s pathfinder, he’ll be going on more missions. I’m feeling too old for that kind of excitement, so I’m going to stick around here and take care of Alec and Sara.” He explained.

A simple nod. I could do that. “Sure, I’ll do what I can. I’ll be part of his team, so it’s not much to ask anyway.”

A moment later, a couple of medical technicians were available. As my facial wound and ribs were treated, I couldn’t help but think that this was only the beginning of a much bigger disaster. My mission would be a lot more complicated than I had figured.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this turned out longer than I expected. There's not a lot revealed about her other than she's well known and fairly young, but more will be explained when she starts to get closer with other characters. She's usually a private person and keeps to herself, so it could take a while.


End file.
